Saturday, January 19, 2008

100 - A nice, round number

I was beaten to the punch by the Chicago Tribune's Rick Morrissey on the anti-wagon regarding the Cubs' quest for a World Series title. I actually have a great deal of sympathy for White Sox fans, who will get a double-barreled dose of the local and national media with their new refrain of "a century of futility" as Spring Training ramps up.

Also, as the season begins. And the first prolonged slump. Probably heading into the All-Star Game as well and if the team is still in contention in August and September, well, it might be best for some South siders to take a nice vacation in early October.

Nice round numbers are nice and round, but why would anyone expect the 100th season to be any different from the 99 seasons that came before it? Sorry, but "because this is the year" is not a suitable answer anymore.

Until proven wrong, I will stick to my standard response whenever anyone asks me how the Cubs will do in (insert year here): A fairly large body of evidence exists that suggests this isn't going to be the year. In fact, the body of evidence overwhelmingly suggests that something bad will happen, with the very distinct possibility that it will be spectacularly bad.

In fact, following the season of steroids we've had to endure from November to the present, if the Cubs make a strong push into October, I'd be highly suspicious, regardless of the imported Japanese power.

Highly suspicious - do you honestly put that past Bud Selig?

Of course, columnists being columnists, Morrissey couldn't leave well enough alone and had to go and ruin it with the suggestion that there's some sort of bad mojo surrounding the team as a whole.

Instead of blaming bad management, poor player evaluations and the same types of decisions that are made by other ballclubs, he went and took the easy way out, or at least left that door open.

Damn.

Larry Cole was a defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys who scored on a fumble return in 1980 after posting a goose egg in the 1970s. When he was asked for a comment following the game, he famously said, "Anyone can have an off decade."

Unfortunately for Cubdom, the franchise has strung together more decades than anyone thought possible en route to becoming a cautionary tale for the other teams in the league.

So, while Morrissey is entitled to his opinion that history has proven time and again that a World Series trophy just isn't in the cards for the Cubs, I prefer to look at it a different way - even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again.